The goal of this review is to focus on selected new approaches and techniques for understanding how fish move through the water and to put these recent results into the context of classical studies of fish swimming. In particular, the review focuses on the analysis of the motion of the center of mass (COM), new approaches to imaging water flows in three dimensions (3D), and fish robotics as a means to understand the physical principles underlaying aquatic propulsion.
Changes in fin and body shape occur during fish locomotion, and can be used for studying patterns of fluid flow and developing computational fluid dynamic models of swimming fish. Undulatory swimming results in increased water velocity in the caudal region of the fish. The general form of the body wave that is produced during such movement is very similar among a diversity of fishes, such as the clown knifefish, eels, and bluegill sunfish.
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